Basics: Help...Where Do I Start?

By: Jacob Ouellette

This is the number one question that youth leaders are asking. Think about it, there are 1,000 things that you could do but what are the things you must do?  There are youth pastor conferences filled with leaders thirsty to grow.  Even after a day of nonstop sessions on youth ministry they often find themselves wondering know "Where do I start?"

After 11 years of youth ministry at "Ignited" and working with groups around the country I've learned that there are some things we can do to create the conditions for growth.  Let's start here:

I.  Clarify the Dream-The problem is many youth ministries do not have clarity and misuse a ton of effort.  They may never reach their God-given dreams. It would be like building a house without a blueprint. Could you imagine the confusion on the jobsite?  Construction workers walking around hammering plywood randomly.  Laborers nail-gunning objects with no end in mind.  People would build one wall that would not match the size of the wall across from it.  And the roof wouldn't even fit-the pieces wouldn't come together!  It would be madness!

The point is you must clarify exactly what you feel God is calling your ministry to fulfill. Everything you build must line up with the blueprint. Stop doing anything that doesn't contribute to accomplishing the dream that God has for your ministry! You must be able to see a clear picture in your heart of what God is calling your ministry to fulfill.  (If you need help figuring this out read Visioneering by Andy Stanley).

II.  Plan Strategically-Once you know what you are called to accomplish, it's time to put a plan together to reach the dream. I think it is tragic when youth leaders have a dream, for example, to grow by 20 people by the end of the year and when it doesn't happen they say, "Well God must not have wanted it to happen."

99% of the time they didn't put a strategic plan together and pursue it with great passion. It's time that youth leaders stop winging it. We must take the laziness out of ministry and start working the harvest field with a professionalism that the church has severely lacked.

A great idea is to have brainstorming meetings with the best thinkers that you have available about 8-12 times per year. These should be all day planning meetings. Focus each meeting on finding out what it's going to take to reach the dream. It is important to schedule meetings before you need them. The hour has arrived for youth ministries to begin bringing strategic planning into accomplishing God's will. When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Remember, souls are on the line!

III.  Have Great Services-If you only put your energy and creativity into your big events your teens will interpret that to mean you don't really care about most of your services. Soon they won't either. Every time the doors are open you want to think about how you can communicate the message as relevantly as possible. Think about the videos, testimonies, songs, etc. you could use to spice up the night. Think about the games you could play to break down walls and get teens to open up. Think about how to make every service unique and worth coming to. Having great services is easy as long as you take time to plan ahead. Consistency in doing great services builds ministries...not big events!  

IV.  Grow your leadership teams-This isn't just some cute little point because it sounds good. The truth is the harvest hinges on your leadership development. In Luke 10 Jesus sends out the 72 and says to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." If you want a back-breaking bushel of a harvest then you must grow your team. You must plan as if the harvest is coming (here is a little secret... the Bible says the fields are already white for the harvest). If you don't have the leaders that you want...then you must train them and develop them. Consider having a monthly leadership meeting where you train, develop, recruit, cast vision, & hold them accountable to the tasks that they have been assigned to.

Take just a couple minutes and think about the points we covered and see if there is anything that your youth ministry could improve upon.

• Clarify the Dream
• Plan Strategically
• Have Great Services
• Grow Your Leadership Teams

Keep in mind that as I said above, there are 1,000 things you could do... but these are the things you must do. If you start with these 4 steps then you will be well on your way to doing great things for God!

Jacob Ouellette is the primary speaker & co-creator of the ATF Youth Ministry Conferences and a local youth pastor in Highland, MI. His passion is to see ministry leaders reach their God given dreams.  www.ignited.org 

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